Royal DNA

[D J Thornton]

It is interesting to find out you have a Gateway Ancestor to Royal Lineages. It helps your research, and DNA testing that confirms it is exciting. One thing also about Royal DNA and the Royals it's that it is well researched and D NA studied.
Here is a great place to look. I'm starting this thread for any info you wish to add.

Royal DNA

http://www.surnamedna.com/?articles=y-d ... h-monarchy

Summary
In the past 1,086 years since Aethelstan became the first King of England, there have been nine (9) sustained Y-DNA dynasties. Three (3) of these lineages have publically available Y-DNA characterizations that anyone can compare themselves to with a commercial genetic genealogy test. Two (2) of the royal dynasties have living Y-DNA descendants but test results have not been published. The remaining four (4) lineages are unlikely to have genealogically-identifiable living descendants. Thus aDNA testing of royal remains will be needed in order to identify their characteristics and draw new genealogical and historical insights.

Geographically, only one (1) of these dynasties (Wessex) originates in England before the 10th century and another in Wales. Six (6) of these dynasties converge on Germany and Denmark (and Wessex would make a seventh if one considers its origins prior to the 7th century). Two (2) more of the dynasties originate in France. Culturally, two (2) of these dynasties are Celtic in origin, two (2) French, and five (5) Germanic.

Prince Phillip dynasty related to
Norway
Denmark , Germany Tsar of Russia Nicholas II
Matrilineal cousin to Tzar wife

4. Stuart

The Stuart line of monarchs were among the most controversial in their own time. Although their matriarch, Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1567), was beheaded, her son King James I (1566-1625) unified the Scottish and English crowns in 1603. Despite the English Civil War and a twelve-year interregnum, a total of six (6) monarchs were crowned from the paternity of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley of Scotland (1545-1567). This Y-DNA linage can be traced further back to Robert II of Scotland (1316-1390), Walter FitzAlan (1106-1177) and Alan FitzFlaad (1070-1114) who came from Brittany, France as a knight in Norman service. Because Brittany was settled (and named) by displaced Celts from Britain in the 5th century, this lineage is thought to be anciently Celtic.

Although the Stuart line of British monarchs ended with the death of Queen Anne in 1714, there are several living Dukes and other Peers who are patrilinealy descended from King Charles II (1630-1685).12 Thus, the Stuarts could easily return to the throne if a female Mountbatten heiress were to marry a Stuart male in the future. The recent birth of a male Prince Cambridge, however, makes the possibility of returning a Stuart to the throne unlikely for the 21st century.

Thanks to an energetic DNA project12and the participation of many Stuart / Stewart descendants, the Stuart Y-DNA signature is the best-studied of all the British monarchs. Figures 3 and 5 include test result highlights for the Stuarts based on an identified ducal descendant of King Charles II.20 Their Y-DNA is characterized as part of haplogroup R1b-L21 with the key SNP mutation L745. This R1b-L21 result is consistent with the Celtic attribution of the Stuart’s 11th century patriarch.


5. The Tudors

The Tudors are best known for King Henry VIII (1491-1547) and his daughter, Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). This dynasty provided five (5) English monarchs and is the only royal male line attributed to Celtic Wales. Henry VIII’s father, Henry Tudor (1457-1509), began the dynasty in 1485 by winning the crown in battle for the Lancastrians and closing the War of the Roses by marrying Elizabeth of York (1465-1503). Henry Tudor’s paternal ancestors are believed to descend from Ednyfed Fychan (1170-1246) of Wales.16

A Tudor Y-DNA signature has not been identified and there are no documented descendants after the 17th century. If a signature can be identified, however, there may be numerous living matches because the ‘Tudor’ surname is still common where the royal Tudors originated on the Isle of Angelsey in Wales. There is at least one person of Welsh descent and surname who claims paternal descent from Henry VIII’s ancestor, Ednyfed Fychan. It is also reputed that Mary Boleyn’s first son, Henry Carey (1526-1596), was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII and may have had descendants that survived but faded from historical records. Carey’s remains lie in Westminster Abbey while Henry VIII’s remains lie in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle so the potential for aDNA to reveal this Y-DNA signature is tantalizing.

6. Plantagenets

The Plantagenets are perhaps best known for King Edward I [Longshanks] (1239-1307) as portrayed in the movie Braveheart (1995). The Plantagenets are sometimes subdivided into the Lancastrian and Yorkist factions who fought the bloody War of the Roses over succession. But all of the fourteen (14) monarchs of this group were paternally descended from King Henry II (1133-1189) who was born in France and brought Ireland and England under the same crown. Although his mother was a granddaughter of William the Conqueror (1028-1087) and daughter of English King Henry I (1068-1135), Henry II’s Y-DNA came from his father Count Geoffrey V of Anjou (1113-1151) and further back from Geoffrey Ferole II, Count of Gastinois, France (1000-1046).

Plantagenet DNA characterization has been in the news this past year with an announcement of findings (without data) that MtDNA evidence supports the identification of a body discovered in Leicestershire as being the remains King Richard III (1452-1485).9 Researchers have identified four (4) surviving male descendants of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort (1744-1803) who should be Y-DNA matches for Richard III and all Plantagenet kings. Unfortunately, those results have not been published and were refused for this paper

Speculative Haplogrouping of Untested Dynasties. Based on the royal test results available, the overall Y-DNA results from Europe, and the geographical convergence of many of these lineages on Denmark and Germany, it is hypothesized that the Normandy, Wessex, and Knýtlinga dynasties will be found to come from the R1b-U106 haplogroup. The Tudor line is likely to resemble the Stuart line and come from haplogroup R1b-L21. The Plantagenets are a bit more difficult to predict as some speculate that they are related to the Carpetian kings of France and descended from Roman citizens in the haplogroup J2 or G2. However, early sources attribute them as Germanic Franks13 and thus more likely to be another branch of R1b-U106.

7. House of Normandy

The House of Normandy was seated with the successful invasion of England in 1066 by William I [the Conqueror] (1028-1087). This dynasty introduced French language and martial skills into the Anglo-Saxon culture of England. To put it in modern terms, these Normans were the high tech gurus of the 11th century with innovations like the Domesday Book, elaborate castles, and combined-arms warfare. Yet for all the territorial gains of William the Conqueror, his dynasty did not last long – only three (3) monarchs over 69 years. William’s Y-DNA came from his Viking ancestor Robert I [Rollo] (846-931) who was probably born in Denmark and became Duke of Normandy, France in about the year 900.

There are no patrilineal descendants of William the Conqueror who survived past the 12th century.16 Nor are there any modern DNA test results that have been linked to his paternal ancestors. William I and Henry I were both buried in abbeys but their remains were destroyed in subsequent centuries. There may be a chance for an aDNA test, however, as some of the bones of William II (1056-1100) are believed to be in a mortuary chest in Winchester Cathedral.

Aethelstan (893-939) was the first person since Roman times to unify all of England under one king in the year 927. While it is common today to refer to persons from the British Isles as ‘Anglo-Saxons’, it has actually been 947 years since the last true Anglo-Saxon king, Harold Godwinson (1022-1066), was defeated by William the Conqueror. From Aethelstan to Godwinson, the ‘West Saxon’ or Wessex dynasty provided a total of ten (10) rulers from the Y-DNA lineage of Egbert, King of Wessex (770 – 839) who was born in what is today Oxfordshire, England. Today’s English language derives principally from Wessex ancestors who came to Britain from northern Germany between the 4th and 8th centuries.

Although Harold Godwinson perished, there were likely fourteen (14) or more sons or nephews carrying the Godwinson Y-DNA living in the year 1081. However, these individuals receded from history and we simply don’t know how to identify any Wessex Y-DNA carriers from traditional genealogy. Since Harold’s body is believed to be buried near the battlefield of Hastings, aDNA may yet enable comparison of the Wessex dynasty with living individuals who have been tested. Bones of earlier Wessex Kings are claimed to be inside Winchester Cathedral as well. There is also a new effort to examine remains that might belong to King Alfred the Great (849-899) at Hyde Abbey, Winchester.

Viking forces operated in England from 793 to 1075 with frequent battles against the House of Wessex. A Viking-based dynasty called Knýtlinga was established in 1013 and is best known for King Canute (985-1035) who subdued the Anglo-Saxons; coined his own money; and also ruled over Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden. However, Canute’s sons all died within seven years of their father so that power in England was reclaimed by the Anglo-Saxons of Wessex.

Canute’s Y-DNA line came from Harthacnu I, King of Denmark (880-936). Although Harthacnu I’s descendants continued to serve as members of Scandanavian royal families, as far as we can tell, this Y-DNA line ‘daughtered-out‘ with no patrilineal descendants that can be tested today. Thus, aDNA is the only means currently feasible for identifying this Y-DNA lineage. There is one identified source, however, as the bones of Canute himself are said to be preserved in Winchester Cathedral.

[D J Thornton]

Have we now found Alfred the Great? Archaeologists exhume unmarked grave in what could be one of the most significant finds ever

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... grave.html

[D J Thornton]

King Richard III
Discovery site
http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/087/0519/ant0870519.pdf

Health & Science
Richard III, the hunchbacked king who lived in the 15th century, liked his liquor
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ ... story.html

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar ... 0314002428
Richard was born in Northamptonshire in 1452 and became King of England in 1483 at the age of 30, ruling for 26 months before being killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The unique discovery has provided an opportunity to apply isotope techniques to his skeleton in order to reconstruct the life history of this Late Medieval king, including his childhood origins and movements, the level of contamination to which he was exposed, and a recreation of his dietary history, including the impact of becoming King. From the skeleton we sequentially analysed bioapatite and collagen from two teeth (a second premolar with root intact and a second molar crown) which formed during Richard's childhood and early adolescence, and from two bones: the femur (which averages long-term conditions) and the rib (which remodels faster and represents the last few years of life). The use of isotope techniques applied to different parts of a skeleton in order to construct a life history is still unusual in archaeology but has been attempted successfully by a handful of authors (Sealy et al., 1995, Cox and Sealy, 1997, Schroeder et al., 2009, Pollard et al., 2012, Bell et al., 2001 and Chenery et al., 2014).

We can reconstruct where Richard may have resided as a child, as oxygen and strontium isotopes are fixed in enamel biogenic phosphate at the time of tooth formation and, once fixed, will not change during life, nor alter in the burial environment (Hillson, 1996, Price et al., 2002 and Hoppe et al., 2003). Strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) are derived from diet and largely relate to the geology of the area where the food was produced (Price et al., 2002). Oxygen isotopes are derived primarily from ingested fluids and reflect the isotopic value of available drinking water, the oxygen isotope composition (δ18O) of which will largely be determined by global water cycles and thus will vary systematically with location (Dansgaard, 1964). Hence, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios should provide constraints for place of origin and any subsequent geographical movements. Lead is a pollutant, and its incorporation in human tissue is related to the development of mining and metalworking. The principal causes of lead poisoning in humans are the use of lead in plumbing in soft water areas, the deliberate ingestion of bioavailable lead compounds (such as lead acetate used to sweeten wine), and the ingestion of lead compounds within, for example, medicines (Montgomery et al., 2010). Access to such materials tends to be the domain of the wealthy and hence lead contamination could be seen as a measure of status. The carbon and nitrogen isotope composition of collagen extracted from bone is the most commonly used technique for assessing dietary contributions and variations (Sealy, 2001, Ambrose and Norr, 1993 and Schoeninger and DeNiro, 1984). Nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N) primarily reflect the trophic level of the subject. There is a step-wise increase in δ15N through each trophic level; thus herbivores will have values between +3 and +5‰ above the plants upon which they graze, while carnivores will record values +3 – +5‰ higher than herbivores from the same ecosystem. Extended food chains, involving several carnivorous steps, produce the highest δ15N values and long food chains are typical of aquatic systems. Animal tissues will also reflect the carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of the plants and animals consumed and can distinguish between marine and terrestrial sources of carbon (Schoeninger and DeNiro, 1984).

[D J Thornton]

Princess Diana mtdna

http://www.britainsdna.com/royal-revelation

A wonderful story about Theodore Forbes and love in British India and summary below and how one individual DNA can be found several generations back

Alexander became so homesick for Surat, his mother and his little sister that the Forbes family allowed and no doubt paid for him to return to India. Apparently this happened only a short time after the six year-old’s arrival in Aberdeenshire. The contrast between Surat and Boyndlie can only be imagined. Many years later a bundle of letters was found. Written not in English but probably in Gujerati, they had been sent by Eliza to the daughter she was destined never to see again. Perhaps they carried news to Scotland of Katharine’s brother and little sister. They also inherited the DNA of their mother, and if the third child was indeed a daughter, then it may have been passed down the generations in India. And in Britain, there is no doubt that shared mtDNA lived on in Katharine Forbes and her descendants.

In the early 19th century and on into the Victorian age, illegitimacy was perhaps less of a stigma in the fermtouns of Scotland than it might have been in the genteel drawing rooms of the cities. Much more of a problem would have been the taint of ‘coloured blood’. But since Katharine’s father had died and her mother remained thousands of miles away in India, it may be that Eliza Kewark’s ethnicity was not an immediate difficulty. Later, she was said to have been an Armenian, perhaps because Kewark could be parlayed into Kevork, an Armenian surname. Nevertheless, Eliza’s existence was not forgotten or expunged from the family tree. Perhaps that was Katharine’s doing, a stubborn unwillingness to deny her mother, the woman who had born and raised her for eight years in Surat. It is impossible to do more than guess at what was said and what was not.

In any event, Theodore and Eliza’s daughter, by this time known as Kitty, married James Crombie in Aberdeen. She was 25 years old. Her family may have remained pillars of the Scottish middle classes had Katharine’s great-granddaughter, Ruth, not married into the aristocracy. Her husband was Maurice Burke Roche, 4th Baron Fermoy, an Irish peer. Ruth became a longstanding member of the household of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. In 1954 her daughter, Frances, married Edward, Viscount Althorp (later Earl Spencer) and in 1961 gave birth to a daughter, Diana Spencer. A year after her marriage to Prince Charles in 1981, she in turn gave birth to a son, Prince William. In the direct female line, Eliza Kewark’s mitochondrial DNA had been passed down to the heir second in line to the throne of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.


How is it possible to be certain of this? Mitochondrial DNA is passed down the motherline to all children. Two living direct descendants of Eliza Kewark have been found and by reading the sequence of their mtDNA, our geneticists discovered not only that it matched but that it also belonged to a haplogroup called R30b. Further research confirmed unequivocally that this is Eliza Kewark’s haplogroup. A comparison run through databases of the DNA of more than 65,000 individuals from around the world showed that R30b is very rare and very Indian. Only 14 examples have been reported and 13 of these were Indian, with one in Nepal. To add to this research, it is important to note that the other related branches of R30b, that is R30a and R30, are also entirely South Asian in origin. This confirms beyond doubt that the mtDNA of Eliza Kewark was of Indian heritage.

R30b is rare even in India where only approximately 0.3% of people carry the lineage. And what Eliza passed down to Princess Diana, her other living descendants and to Prince William is even rarer. Within the haplogroup of R30b, an exact match to her sequence has yet to be found outside of her descendants. But Prince William, and Prince Harry, who also carries it, will not be able to pass on their extremely rare Indian mtDNA to their children. They will in turn inherit whatever their mothers’ mtDNA happens to be.

For yet more corroboration, scientists used an independent type of genetic evidence. By reading over 700,000 markers scattered across the genome of Princess Diana’s matrilineal cousins, and comparing findings to a global database of samples, it is possible to estimate the proportions of continental-level ancestry for an individual. For example, someone with a father from Ireland and a mother from Nigeria would be 50% sub-Saharan African and 50% European, or someone with three English grandparents and one from China would be approximately 20% to 30% East Asian. The proportions inherited from ancestors who lived longer ago are lower and also variable. Eliza Kewark’s two descendants are estimated to be about 0.3% and 0.8% South Asian, with three blocks of South Asian DNA in each of their genomes. All of the rest is of European origin.

It is therefore very likely that in addition to his mtDNA, Prince William has not only inherited a small proportion of Indian DNA from Eliza Kewark but that his heirs will also carry it.


http://dnatestingchoice.com/news/2014-0 ... -years-ago

Stewart